Rolling mill



1969 J. R. ADAlR 3,459,023

ROLLING MILL Filed March 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F gj INVENTOR.

J4M5 R. ADA/R BY ATTORNEV.

g- 5, 1969 J. R. ADAIR 3,459,023

ROLLING MILL Filed March 28, 1967 2 51 1 1 2 Fig. 2

IN VEN TOR. JAMES R. ADA/R BY United States Patent 3,459,023 ROLLING MILL James Richard Adair, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 626,457 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 5, 1966, 15,186/ 66 Int. Cl. B21b 31/08, 39/20 U.S. Cl. 72-238 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to an improvement in a rolling mill and, particularly, to a mill construction allowing quick removal from and insertion into the mill of the rolls thereof, together with a novel construction for mounting and adjusting the guides thereof.

Rolling mills for the production of rods, bars, billets, and the like are provided with shaped rolls, i.e., rolls have passes formed in them correlated to the particular size and shape of the workpiece to be rolled. Consequently, when the size of the product being rolled changes or the rolls wear, it is necessary to remove the rolls from the mill and replace them with new rolls having passes of the proper shape or size. Such changing of the rolls is a very frequent occurrence which results in substantial loss of production time. There is, therefore, a need for an efficient and economical construction for allowing for quick removal and replacement of the rolls of such mills.

The rolls of the mill in question, of necessity, are provided with entry and delivery guides which are formed to guide the workpiece into the particular configuration of the pass, so that the guide must be made to correspond with the shape of the roll pass. Since the rolls in presentday mills are provided with a number of passes along their roll bodies, as one pass wears, the product is shifted to one of the other passes and the rolling mill continues to operate without the need to change the rolls. However, it is necessary to change the guide before this can be accomplished which necessitates a certain amount of lost production time, since the mill must be rendered inoperative until the guides have been adjusted. Theretofore these guides have been individually mounted and required considerable time to locate them in the proper position.

The present invention provides a rolling mill having a construction that enables quick removal and replacement of the rolls. A still further object is to provide a novel construction for allowing quick adjustment of the guides thereof, and in one form permits the roll assembly and guides to be removed and replaced as a unit. Consequently, the guides can be located in their operating position prior to being brought to the mill.

In one form the present invention provides in a rolling mill a housing, a window in said housing, an inner frame received in said window, a pair of rolls forming a mill pass line and having bearing chock assemblies at their ends received in said inner frame, said inner frame being movable in said housing relative to the mill pass line in a first and a second direction, first means mounted in said window for carrying said frame when the latter is to be moved in said second direction, second means carried by said housing arranged between the housing and said inner frame for moving the frame in said first direction, whereby said frame is selectively caused to contact said first means in a supporting relationship therewith, said second means arranged to extend between the frame and said housing in a manner to transfer the rolling pressure from the frame to the housing when the frame is not in engagement with said first means, and other means connected to said inner frame for moving the frame 1n said second direction in which said frame, when supported by said first means, is caused to be removed from said housing.

The present invention also provides as its ob ect 1n combination with a rolling mill havin a number ofworkpiece forming passes in its rolls, a pluralityof guides, a shaft for supporting said guides, said shaft being rotatably supported so that on rotation thereof, said guides are positionable towards and away from said rolls in a first direction, means for moving said guides when supported by said shaft in a second direction relative to said rolls so as to move said guides to selected roll passes, and means for holding said guides in the selected position.

These objects, as well as other novel features and advantages of the present invention, will be more read1ly understood when the following description thereof is read along with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational sectional view of a bar mill stand incorporating the features of the present invention, and

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view, partly in section, of the mill shown in FIGURE 1.

With reference to the aforesaid figures there are shown two upright housings 11 and 12, of which the housing 11 is shown in FIGURE 1 having a window 13, the opposite sides of which are provided with liners 14. Within the window and arranged to bore against the liners there is provided a cartridge or inner frame 15, the cartridge adapted to receive a pair of horizontal rolls 16 and 17, these rolls being constructed in normal fashion having a number of grooves along their lengths, two of which are illustrated in FIGURE 2 as 18 and 19.

The inner frame 15 supports the roll 16 by virtue of slidable confined upper and lower roll bearing chock assemblies 21 and 22, respectively. The upper bearing chock assembly 21 at its top is provided with the usual pressure block 23, the upper end of which is engaged by a screw 24, as shown in FIGURE 1. The checks are urged away from each other by balance piston cylinder assemblies 25, the cylinders thereof being received in the lower chock. The lower chock 22 at its lower end engages in the usual fashion a number of filler plates 26 which engage a bearing block 27, thus allowing the checks under the rolling loads, as in the case of the pressure block 23, to deflect on the deflect of the roll.

It will be noted that the base of the inner frame 15 of each housing is provided with a flat surface 28 which engages a wedge 29, the wedge being arranged in slidable contact with a second Wedge 31, the bottom of which is received in the housing. The two wedges 29 and 31 are held against movement horizontally by two interconnected rods 33. The wedge element 31 is movable horizontally so as to raise and lower the frame 15, in which regard it will be noted that in FIGURE 1 the frame is shown in its operative position in which rolling loads of the lower roll pass from the frame through the wedge into the housing. At either side of the wedge 31 rotatably mounted to each of the frames 15 there is provided a pair of wheels 36, the wheel at the left being flanged to engage in a guiding manner one of two rails 37 arranged directly below it and mounted in the window of the housings. The rolls, it will be appreciated, pass through the windows of both housings 11 and 12. On operation of the wedge 31 the frame is allowed to lower itself to the extent that the wheels 36 will engage the rails 37. As shown in FIGURE 2, the frame towards the right is provided with a hook 41 which is engaged by a complementary hook 42 of a reciprocatory mechanism provided to remove and replace the frame and the supported rolls from and to the mill.

Turning now to the improved guide feature of the present invention, reference is made to FIGURE 2. It will be noted that there are provided two guide boxes 44 and 45 having openings that complement the pass openings 18 and 19 formed in the rolls. The guide boxes are each mounted on separate coaxial shafts 46 and 47, the shafts being interfitted at 48 and allowed to rotate relative to each other. The boxes 44 and 45 are securely mounted to the shafts 46 and 47 so that on rotation of the shafts, the boxes are adapted to be displaced away from the rolls 16 and 17, freeing the guide boxes which, as shown in FIG- URE 2, otherwise would project between the rolls. In this way the guide boxes can be traversed to a new pass. The rotation of the guide boxes is accomplished by piston cylinder assemblies 51 and 52 which are connected to the opposite ends of the shafts 46, 47, respectively, through bushings 53 and 54 which are keyed or otherwise fastened to the shafts 46 and 47. Once the guide boxes 44 and 45 are moved away from the rolls, they can be traversed relative to the axes of the rolls by physically moving the shafts 46 and 47. For this purpose there is provided a screw 55 which has a head adapted to be rotated by a wrench so that the screw advances in a nut 56 and through which movement the guide boxes are simultaneously moved in the same direction axially relative to the rolls 16 and 17.

Returning to FIGURE 1, it will be observed that at the top on the right-hand side of the mill, there is provided a means for holding the guide boxes 44 and 45 in their operative position, which includes a projection 57 at the top of each box which is received in a latch bar 58, the latch bar being adapted to be moved vertically by a piston cylinder assembly 59. Whenever the guides are to be moved away from the rolls, the piston cylinder 59 is operated to release the guide 57 from the latch bar. Conversely, when the guide is brought back into position, the piston cylinder 59 is operated to bring the latch bar 58 into contact with the projections '57 to hold the guides in their operative position.

As heretofore mentioned, it is a feature of the present invention that the guide boxes 44 and 45 including the shafts 46 and 47 carried by the frames 15, are removed simultaneously with the rolls when they are to be changed. A replacement frame 15 with rolls and guide boxes preassembled and aligned is then inserted into the housings 11 and 12, thereby reducing to a minimum the time required to change rolls and guides.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, 1 have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill a housing,

a window in said housing,

7 an inner frame received in said window,

a pair of rolls forming a mill pass line and having bearing chock assemblies at their ends received in said inner frame,

said inner frame being movable in said housing relative to the mill pass line in a first and a second direction,

first means mounted in said window for carrying said frame when the latter is to be moved in said second direction,

second means carried by said housing arranged between the housing and said inner frame for moving the frame in said first direction, whereby said frame is selectively caused to contact said first means in a supporting relationship therewith,

said second means arranged to extend between the frame and said housing in a manner to transfer the rolling pressure from the frame to the housing when the frame is not in engagement with said first means, and

other means connected to said inner frame for moving the frame in said second direction in which said frame, when supported by said first means, is caused to be removed from said housing.

2. In a rolling mill according to claim 1, wherein said pair of rolls have a number of axially spaced workpiece forming passes,

a workpiece guide box for said passes adapted to guide a workpiece into one of said passes,

a support member for said guide box,

means carried by said frame for rotatably supporting said support member in a manner to allow movement of said guide box into and out of one of said passes,

said support member including means for allowing the guide box to be moved parallel to the axes of the rolls to allow the guide box to be moved from one pass to another pass.

3. In a rolling mill according to claim 2, in which a plurality of guide boxes are carried by said support memher,

said support member comprising a rotatable shaft,

means for rigidly securing the guide boxes to said shaft so that on angular rotation thereof the guide boxes are simultaneously moved towards and away from the roll passes,

said shaft being formed with two portions, each for supporting at least one of said guide boxes,

a screw nut assembly carried by one of said shaft portions, said screw adapted to move said shaft portions in unison axially of the rolls on rotation thereof.

4. In a rolling mill according to claim 2, in which a holding bar is located on the side of said guide box opposite said support member,

means for moving said holding bar into and out of a holding position with respect to said guide box.

5. In a rolling mill according to claim 4, in which said guide box has upper projecting surfaces,

vertical guide ways for receiving said holding bar, and

power means for moving said holding bar toward and away from said guide box.

6. In a rolling mill according to claim 2, wherein said frame is in the form of a U-shaped member, and

wherein said support member is rotatably carried by said frame, whereby the frame, roll and guide box are removed as a unit from the housing.

7. In a rolling mill according to claim 6, wherein a support member is provided on the entry and delivery side of said housing and carried by said frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,132,546 5/1964 Barr et al 72-250 X 3,171,304 3/1965 Sims et a]. 72238 3,194,045 7/1965 Hill 72-238 ,312,096 4/1967 Stubbs et al 72-238 MILTON S. MEHR, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 72-250 

